The present application claims the benefit of New Zealand Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 505,239, filed with the New Zealand Patent Office on Jun. 19, 2000. The present application also claims the benefit of New Zealand Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 509,547, filed with the New Zealand Patent Office on Jan. 26, 2001.
The present invention relates generally to a touch panel display system that displays information and allows a user to interact with the system by touching on or near the displayed information. More particularly, the present invention relates to a touch panel display system that includes energy emitters for emitting energy beams across the surface of a display screen and detectors for detecting the energy beams, a touch of the display surface causing an interruption of the energy beams.
Touch panel display screens allow a user to touch an area of a display screen to supply a command to a computer system associated with the display screen, and hence control the operation of the computer system. A touch panel display screen can provide an intuitive method by which people can easily interact with and control certain functions performed by a computer system. Furthermore, a touch panel display screen can display icon elements representing a keyboard to allow the user to key in text to the associated computer system. An interactive graphical representation of a keyboard eliminates the need to configure the computer system with a physical keyboard and/or other peripheral input devices (e.g., a mouse).
Touch panel display screens can be produced in a range of different types and sizes and can be used in a wide variety of systems, such as kiosks, personal computer systems, portable consumer electronics (e.g., cellular telephones, personal digital assistants or hand held computers, video game devices, etc.) domestic appliances, vehicles information systems (e.g., GPS locators), and industrial equipment or tools. Businesses can use touch panel display screens to display information to potential customers, and to receive feedback or commands from these customers as to what other information they require. Touch panel display systems can also be used to facilitate business and/or consumer transactions. However as compared with regular (non-touch panel) display devices, touch panel display systems are relatively expensive and time consuming to produce and are thus not widely used.
One type of touch panel display system can be constructed by capacitance forming elements formed integrally into the display screen. The user placing a finger or stylus on the display screen will change the capacitance in a particular region of the display screen, thereby indicating to the computer system which area of the display screen has been touched. Other types of touch panel displays transmit energy beams across the face of the display screen. These beams are transmitted in an arrangement of columns and rows. When a finger or stylus interrupts a beam from one column to one row, the computer system can detect which area of the display screen has been touched.
Touch panel display systems that emit beams of energy across the face of the display screen are also highly susceptible to component failure. Such a system will not be able to accurately detect the touch of a user in an area of the display screen that is covered by a failed emitter and/or a failed detector. A failed emitter and/or detector can also result in the system being unable to detect any touches at all in a particular area of the display screen. Furthermore, if the emitters or detectors become dirty, their ability to detect or transmit energy beams will be impaired and will lead to the same problems as if the components had failed.
In touch panel display screens that employ beams of energy transmitted across the face of the display screen, a large number of energy emission and detection components may also be required if the system is to have a reasonable degree of accuracy in determining the location of a touch on the display. The resolution or smallest area within which the system can detect a touch will be determined by the number of energy beams transmitted across the screen, and how close these beams are to one another. If the system needs to detect the touch of a smaller element, such as a stylus, then large numbers of energy beam emitters and detectors will need to be incorporated into the display system. This increased component count will correspondingly increase the cost of manufacturing the display.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a touch panel display system that has a reduced susceptibility to component failure or dirt build-up on components and which also reduces the number of components required to implement the display system. There is a further need for an improved touch panel display system having reduced susceptibility to component failure or dirt build-up that may be incorporated into any type of system employing a display device. There is a yet a further need for an improved touch panel display system that may be retrofitted to an existing non-touch panel display device or be provided as an after market product.
The present invention provides a touch panel display system that allows user interaction therewith through a touch panel display screen. Preferably, although optionally, the touch panel display system of the present invention may be designed to include a minimal number of components, so as to reduce the system""s susceptibility to inaccuracies due to component failures or dirty components. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that the present invention may be used in conjunction with any size touch panel display screen, e.g., from centimeters across upwards of several meters wide if desired. The present invention may also be implemented with numerous different types of display screen technology.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a touch panel display system which includes at least one display surface, a plurality of energy emitters, and a plurality of detectors, whereby said plurality of detectors are adapted to receive energy emitted from said energy emitters over a range of angles. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of operating a touch panel display system substantially as described above, characterised by the steps of: displaying an image inviting a command from a user, emitting energy from at least one energy emitter, and detecting the energy emitted from said at least one emitter using a detector adapted to detect said emitted energy over a range of angles, and detecting an interruption of said energy by the user, and determining the area or location on the display surface adjacent to where the user interrupted the energy emitted by said at least one energy emitter.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of operating a touch panel display system substantially as described above, characterised by the steps of: displaying an image inviting a command from a user, and emitting energy from at least one energy emitter, and detecting the energy emitted from said at least one emitter using a detector adapted to detect said emitted energy over a range of angles, and detecting the interruption by the user of at least two pairs of intersecting energy beams, and calculating the angle of intersection between each of the pairs of intersecting energy beams, and determining the point of intersection of each of the pairs of intersecting energy beams, and determining the area or location on the display surface adjacent to where the user interrupted the said pairs of intersecting beams using the intersection angle and intersection point of each of the pairs of intersecting energy beams.
Further aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and with reference to the accompanying drawings.